Looking Forward

I'm looking forward to my UROP! I'm working with Amon and Leo in the media lab, the Lifelong Kindergarden Group.

Sam's going to be working there too! woohoo! but he's working for Oren who I was uneasy to work for because he seemed so serious. But apparently he's not that serious and he's actually a wacky guy. Amon told me Oren has this really cute 3 year old girl who he talks to in the most cutest way possible haha

and they said he even sometimes breaks out of character and talks to other people like he talks to his daughter. haha i think that's awesome.

Amon is this really cool guy that was a hardcore gamer back in the day and a skater. I'm gonna love talking about video games with him. haha. Moreover, his project seems like it's so awesome. Basically, there are these "clubhouses" that children from less priviledged communities can go to as an after school activity center. The kids bring household items and then Amon and other people figure out ways to make games or challenges for the kids from these items. For example, he showed me these paper plates that kids brought. He cut three slits in it, put tin foil over them and wires. Then he put another paper plate underneath it with tin foil contacts and voila! he had a steering wheeling because you could spin the top plate and it would complete the circuit when the wire and tin foil hit.

Leo is great too. I like him a lot because of his honesty and straightforward way of thinking that he shows really well. He's just a very genuine person. He got into educating kids because after living in a place where a lot of things happened and no one was doing anything about it and no one knew about it, he wanted people in the community to make a difference. Sorry if I'm not explaining this well but I'm really about to pass out haha.

Anyway, I'm excited because of the things the two guys are working for. They want a world where children feel empowered to do anything they want. If you want to make a difference, you can. You just need to put out the effort. I think that's a problem with a lot of people. People lose focus in life because they feel that things are impossible. They find their dreams blocked by failure and then give up. That's the way things are at MIT. You're forced to deal with failure and not give up, but keep trying with a renewed mindset.